


Undercurrents

by Jeannie Peneaux (JeanniePeneaux)



Series: Tactful [3]
Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 10:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14376750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeanniePeneaux/pseuds/Jeannie%20Peneaux
Summary: Miss Catherine Bennet comes to London to enjoy the season.





	Undercurrents

**Author's Note:**

> Here is Kitty's tale. It is longish for a one-shot but I didn't feel it was breakable into separate chapters anywhere. I'll start posting Lydia's next week. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did, I was surprised how much I liked it by the end. Thanks for reading! :) My spelling and grammar checker hates me after this one, you will see why I'm sure!
> 
> Go read "Tact" first if you have stumbled across this and don't want to be confused.

Miss Catherine Bennet of Longbourn was naturally speaking, of a shyer disposition than her sister, Lydia. She had often watched, with a kind of awed fascination, at how seemingly effortless making friends seemed to be to her younger sister. She appeared to have been born with a self-confidence that was entirely foreign to Kitty, who once having reached fourteen had felt entirely crushed by her own awkwardness. Previously to this, the difference between them had not been so very evident except that Lydia generally led the two of them into some sort of mischief. It had been a delightful childhood really, long days of being permitted to entertain themselves however they wished so long as they did not get underfoot. Very often, Lydia would befriend the pair of them to boys of their age, for some reason the youngest Miss Bennet was a great deal more at ease playing with the Goulding or the Lucas boys than their more delicate sisters. Up until a certain age, Mrs. Bennet was content to turn a blind eye, knowing full well that the suitors of marriageable ladies often came from the playmates of their youth.

Young Master Goulding, when Kitty had turned eleven years old, had felt that her education was entirely lacking and so had quietly- while Lydia had been playing boules with his brother- taught her how to plant a facer with great effectiveness. She caught on quickly and in one lengthy lesson had mastered the basic mechanics, by the time an afternoon had passed the pair of them sported a very fine set of colourful bruises up each arm- Kitty having cravenly squealed at the suggestion that they actually aim for each other's noses. She was pronounced to be a jolly good sport by the lad and kept for herself the unladylike knowledge for whenever it may prove useful.

Alas, at fourteen, no such opportunity had occurred and by the time Lydia had outgrown her by several inches, leaving Kitty quite the shortest member of the family, she began to feel so self-conscious of her femininity that could do little more than curtsey politely to William Goulding for several months, avoiding him whenever possible. She wondered when she looked back on her girlhood if he remembered teaching her to throw a punch one sunny afternoon at Haye Park.

It had not taken her long to find great comfort in imitation. What Lydia did with such ease, Kitty copied assiduously. Eventually, she discovered that her younger sister’s shadow was not so hard a place to be in company but was increasingly uncomfortable at home of an evening when all she wanted to be was Kitty rather than Lydia’s extension of herself.

By the time she was seventeen, the Bennet fortunes seemed to undergo drastic improvement. Not only did Mary unexpectedly secure the future of Longbourn by marrying Mr. Collins; but Jane, the very next year married Mr. Bingley and Elizabeth- outshining them all, wed Mr. Darcy of Pemberley shortly thereafter.

Kitty was invited to London first, on account of her seniority and the long wished for London season, earned by nearly six months of decorous behaviour, was hers to be enjoyed.

Except she did not. Without Lydia there to distract young men, Kitty found balls and parties not nearly so wonderful as Mama had promised that she would. Where Lydia took joy in making new acquaintances, never once fearing that she should be disliked, Kitty fretted her way through each and every introduction- greatly fearing their censure. She endured, as best she could, the schedule that had been set for them and could honestly say that whilst she did not disgrace herself, neither did she precisely shine amongst the refined elegance of the ton.

Unexpectedly, reprieve came for her halfway through the season when Elizabeth knocked on her chamber door one morning and entered.

If Elizabeth Bennet had been a pretty, lively girl with a ready wit, Elizabeth Darcy was a creature of beauty, glowing with happiness and possessed of a delightful talent for repartee that had rapidly brought her great popularity as a hostess and guest. Marriage suited Lizzy, however severe her husband seemed, under Elizabeth's laughing and affectionate gaze, he softened considerably- even Miss Darcy, who had previously allowed no fault to be attributed to her brother, declared that he was not so daunting a man as he once had been.

“Kitty, are you still abed?” smiled Elizabeth, “I cannot scold you for it, last nights ball finished monstrously late did it not? Fitzwilliam assures me that Harding had to undress me while I was half asleep!”

Kitty stretched and agreed, the maid had drawn back the drapes and dappled sunlight shone in onto the rose coloured counterpane. “It was a very grand ball though Lizzy. I cannot help but think Lydia would have enjoyed it tremendously and likely would have danced every dance.”

“Very likely, Lydia has the knack for getting dance partners but we must not forget that you had many charming partners yourself, Kitty.”

“Oh, I suppose not. I think some of them were a little too charming, so smoothly spoken that I could hardly be expected to believe half of the pretty compliments they paid. Mr. Colchester was so very rehearsed I felt dreadfully awkward. I am afraid it showed Lizzy.”

“My wise little sister! I cannot praise such discernment enough. Some men, dearest, are altogether too smoothly spoken- one cannot but suspect that it is out of long practice. You do right not to be too trusting. Of course, that does not at all mean that the compliments paid to you are undeserved does it?”

Kitty made a moue of discomfort. “I...I do not exactly sparkle though Lizzy. I cannot at all relax, feeling as though everyone is staring at me to criticize the countrified nobody…I do not...I do not think that I should like to live in London all the time.”

Mrs. Darcy looked offended. “I beg your pardon, Kitty? You are a Bennet of Longbourn, my dear, hardly a blacksmiths daughter and without wishing to boast your connections are excellent.”

Kitty smiled at her sister's attempt at pomposity. “Oh do stop it, Lizzy, such talking doesn’t become you at all.”

“Shall you be very unhappy to leave for Pemberley next week, Kitty? Instead of remaining for the whole season, I mean. Fitzwilliam wants to take me into the country...we have reason to believe that you may become an Aunt again by the end of the year. “

“Lizzy!” Screeched her sister, now wide awake. “A baby, how absolutely splendid. I should love to see Pemberley, when may we leave?”

Elizabeth laughed, “Not until next Friday I fear, we simply must attend Lady Pattersons Rout Party on Thursday, she was Fitzwilliam’s Mama’s oldest friend you know, it would not do to offend her.”

“Oh Lizzy, I can endure any number of parties knowing that the end is in sight. Thank you.”

Lizzy frowned, “Well I am sorry that you have found it so dreadful an ordeal, perhaps you might even enjoy this last week now that your reprieve has been granted. I shall tell Fitzwilliam that Friday will be a delightful day to travel.”

For Kitty the unlooked-for consequence of the imminent removal to Pemberley was that she entirely forgot her awkwardness, so focussed as she was on seeing her sisters’ grand home and not having to endure any more stilted conversations.

Mr. Osmond-Price, who had been the least intimidating young man that she had met in London approached her that evening at Madam Joubert's ball and begged the favour of a dance. Mrs. Darcy gave a pitying nod to his stammered request and watched as the pair of them made their way to the dance floor.

“A-are you enjoying the evening thus f-far, M-Miss Bennet?” asked the poor young man, having been cursed with an impediment of speech since his youth. Kitty felt sorry enough for him, for he must feel quite ten times as awkward as she, that she forgot a measure of her shyness and attempted to put him at his ease.

“Ye-es, but my sister has told me that we are to remove to Pemberley next week, which I think I will enjoy even more. There are ever so many people in London aren't there?”

Mr. Osmond-Price bowed in his turn and made the first steps of the dance. He danced well, with a good sense of time and a natural grace.

“I a-am s-sorry that you w-will be l-leaving us, M-miss Bennet, shall you n-not r-return?”

Kitty made her curtsey and followed the pattern of the dance. She did like to dance, it was the easiest part of a ball, for her. Each person moved in a prescribed manner that was already laid out in front of them. All she was required to do was remember the steps and enjoy the exercise.

“I do not think we plan to no, my younger sister, Lydia will come to Town next season, I believe. She will enjoy it tremendously.”

“A-and where w-will you go?”

Kitty made a turn, surprised. “I had not given it much thought, I suppose I will go to Pemberley with Mr. Darcy and my sister and then go home to Hertfordshire. It will be much more comfortable for me, to be in a more familiar company. Do you like London, sir?”

Mr. Osmond-Price raised his sandy coloured brows and looked at her. “D-do y-you know, M-miss Bennet, n-nobody has e-ever asked me that b-before.” He considered his answer while leading her down the dance, “I-I do n-not think I do. M-my home is in N-Norfolk you know. I-I have b-been w-wishing to m-make im-improvements to it but M-mama said that I should f-find a w-wife in Town first.”

“I have not ever been to Norfolk. Where is it?” asked Kitty, not having paid the least heed to her atlas as a girl.

Mr. Osmond-Price did not seem to mind, he was a young man, no more than twenty-three, and rather liked to impart his knowledge. So few people had the patience to listen to him try to get his words out that they rather forgot that his mind was perfectly sound. Little Miss Bennet did not seem to feel that impatience, nor did she look at him with any disgust. He rather suspected that she was taking a kind pity on him but did not find it offensive in her. Her dark hair was piled high on her head, an attempt on the part of the maid to give the young woman a little more presence in a room and her eyes rested on him attentively as he briefly outlined the geography of his home county.

Fletchley Grange was a fine old house, he told her. The stone in Norfolk was a light colour and when the sunshine fell upon it, the Grange never looked so delightful. A river ran through the grounds and liked to row his boat on it when he had the time.

Kitty smiled, imagining it. “I have not ever been on a boat, it sounds delightful.”

Mr. Osmond-Price found himself grinning enthusiastically at her, and once the dance was over, led her back to her sister on his arm and haltingly told her of the many mishaps one might have on a river. Having rarely enjoyed a dance so much as the one with her, he summoned up the courage to ask Mrs. Darcy if he might call on Miss Bennet in the morning and take her out for a drive in the park.

Mrs. Darcy politely responded, “You are of course very welcome to call on us, Mr. Osmond-Price, tomorrow is our morning at home so it would be no inconvenience. Mr. Darcy will wish to be consulted as to the drive but I daresay he will agree if Miss Bennet may take her maid.” She threw Kitty a surprised look, seeing how her sister blushed but did not look alarmed at the prospect of this poor young man calling on her.

“I will...I mean...I shall see you tomorrow Mr. Osmond-Price,” said Kitty, shy again now that they were under observation, “I will ask Mr. Darcy to show me where Norfolk is on a map I think.”

Mr. Osmond-Price went away after that, quite enraptured with her and flattered by such interest.

The next morning, at the fashionable hour, Kitty and Mr. Osmond-Price set off in his carriage for a drive around the park. Her maid sat up on the box with the groom and did not trouble them. Kitty smiled at the young man, who was perfectly ready to be encouraged.

“Does your mother remain in Norfolk, sir?” she asked after they had struggled their way through opening preliminaries.

“Y-yes, m-my F-father, he does n-not have good health, the a-air in London does n-not at a-all suit him.”

“Oh,” said Kitty, unsure what to say next.

Feeling quite masterful, Mr. Osmond-Price rescued her. “He d-does not mind s-so much, I do n-not think. He p-prefers it. Mama h-holds a g-great many parties, they do n-not suffer for l-loneliness.”

It was a successful outing, the pair of them rapidly found that they were quite at ease in each others company. Kitty was glad that he did not attempt to pay flowery compliments and Mr. Osmond-Price was equally glad that she did not seem to expect it. He told her, quite bluntly, at the end of the drive that he thought her a “c-capital girl,” and Miss Bennet had looked so pleased that he might have compared her to a summers day or something equally poetic judging by the brightness of her smile.

He called on her the next day and the day after that and by the time Wednesday had come he was in a fair way to being very much in love with her. She seemed to like him very much and seemed so sweetly delighted to see him that he forgot his bothersome stammer and for the first time felt like any other young man in a room. If Miss Bennet did not mind that he did not talk as other young men did, well neither did he. If she thought him pleasant company, he was very glad of it.

He wrote to his mother that evening, declaring his intentions towards the young woman. Her fortune may be negligible, but he was well enough able to provide for a wife regardless of it and her connections were clearly excellent. The Darcy’s were a very well established family after all. Doubtless Mrs. Osmond-Price would be content to know that her only son was making a good effort to bring home a wife by the end of the season.

The next day, with Mr. Darcy’s blessing, Catherine, and her maid were taken by Mr. Osmond-Price to the Thames to see the boats. He had some idea of asking Mr. Darcy’s permission to pay his addresses to her once they returned to Darcy House but rather thought he had better see one last time if she appeared willing before he made a fool of himself.

Alas, as they were strolling along, a pair of young bucks happened to overhear Mr. Osmond-Price stammering to his pretty companion about how a rudder worked. Seeing an apparently clueless young man as an opportunity for sport, they called out to catch his attention. One of them loudly declared that such a pretty little miss ought not to be in company with a man who cannot even spit his words out and the other laughing loudly, called Mr. Osmond Price the most dreadful name that Kitty had ever heard.

Very rapidly the situation got out of hand. Mr. Osmond-Price attempted to escort Miss Bennet away from such “v-vulgar p-persons”  but the men followed them. One of them, in quite the brightest yellow trousers that Kitty had ever seen compared poor Mr. Osmond-Price to something quite unpardonable and pushed him hard on the shoulder.

Aghast at this unprovoked attack, Kitty stepped forward.

“How dare you! You are...you are mannerless and unfeeling brutes and I wish you would go away. If  _ I _ do not mind hearing him talk of rudders and oars and such who are  _ you _ to object to me hearing it. Go away I say!”

The man, not at all liking to be given a dressing down by a female, approached very close and loomed threateningly over her. Mr. Osmond-Price, quite red with anger and shame, lashed out at him and knocked him over with tolerable science. Naturally, the second fellow, who sported a ridiculous pair of tinted gloves and whose corsets creaked as he intervened, threw the second punch. Caught by surprise, Mr. Osmond-Price fell to the floor.

Seeing Mr. Osmond-Price quite out-numbered and no one else around within calling distance, Kitty saw little option but to even the odds.

In fairness to her suitor, he gave a very good account of himself, but could not fight the other two from the ground. Seeing one aim a kick at him, Kitty shouted in outrage. Furious beyond anything she had ever felt, Kitty rounded on the man in the yellow trousers, drew back her arm and dealt him a creditable black eye. Quite caught off balance by the lady, the man fell over his own feet in trying to put some distance between them and landed on the floor with a heavy thud.

The maid by this time had begun screaming in hysterics and drew the attention of other onlookers. Mr. Osmond-Price rose rapidly from the floor and saw off the other foolish fop very rapidly. The two men departed with bleeding noses and eyes and Kitty watched them go with blazing eyes.

“M-miss Bennet?” said a very shaken Thomas Osmond-Price, “I-I ought to return you home.”

The anger in her eyes faded and Kitty sniffed once defiantly before she inevitably began to cry. They returned to Darcy House in miserable silence and Kitty watched, with slumped shoulders, as Mr. Osmond-Price,  _ her _ Mr. Osmond- Price made his way into Mr. Darcy’s study.

Elizabeth, having soothed the hysterical maid, came to find her. A sisterly arm slid about her shoulders and Kitty was pressed in close to Lizzy.

“I could not entirely make it out dearest, but Briggs seemed to think you had struck a man down. She is a very silly creature, I fear.”

Kitty gave a keening wail and groped for her handkerchief. “Oh Lizzy, those two dreadful men came and said such things to poor Mr. Osmond-Price and pushed him and so I told them they must stop and then Mr. Osmond-Price defended me and...and yes...I punched one of them when he was pushed to the floor and although he won’t want anything to do with me now I am not in the least bit sorry I did for I cannot see that I should have done anything else.”

Quite shocked, Elizabeth gasped, “Do you mean to tell me that you did knock him down, Kitty? I cannot even imagine it.”

An icy voice from the doorway spoke. “I am glad to hear it, Madam. I do not think that a gently bred lady such as yourself ought to be able to imagine such things. Miss Bennet, I should like to see you in my study  _ immediately, _ if you please.”

Kitty gulped and then sniffed again. Elizabeth pressed her own clean handkerchief into her hand and sent her furious husband a pleading glance.

“Fitzwilliam…”

“Not now, Elizabeth.”

Poor miserable Kitty trudged into the study, Mr. Darcy shut the door behind him with a decisive click and held a chair out for her before seating himself behind the desk.

“I cannot think, sister, that you can have any explanation that will sufficiently excuse such behaviour as I have been hearing of this morning.”

Kitty fixed her eyes on her toes and would not look up. She thought that she would rather be facing anybody’s wrath but his. Her mother would have screeched at her, her father would have derided her but this frigid, polite accusation was entirely dreadful. He made her feel that she had been in the wrong, that no woman of breeding ought to even  _ think _ of forming a fist let alone pulling it back from her shoulder and landing it neatly in a man's eye. She had little option but to go into inconsolable hysterics and whip herself up into such a state that Mr. Darcy eventually admitted that there was little purpose in exhausting his limited patience by prolonging the interview.

He rose from his desk and crossed to the door. Opening it a fraction he requested the servant outside to fetch Mrs. Darcy.

Upon her sister entering the study and throwing a deeply reproachful look at her husband, Kitty cast herself into Elizabeth’s arms and sobbed yet harder.

“Hush now Kitty, I am here, I will amend all. Calm yourself, dearest. I am certain that Fitzwilliam did not intend to upset you so.”

“ _ I _ upset her?!” interjected an irritated Mr. Darcy. “Thank you for assuming my innocence, madam.”

“Well, what am I to think Fitzwilliam, when she is so very unhappy after only being in here for a few minutes with you?”

Kitty gulped and with an effort, ceased her wailing.

Lizzy spoke soothingly and stroked her hair gently. “It is well now Kitty, it cannot be so very bad after all, can it?”

Kitty coughed and could not speak.

“It certainly can be so bad as all that, Mrs. Darcy. Your sister  _ punched _ a gentleman in the face in a public park. It is beyond anything I have ever heard of. I do not care to think what damage this may do to Georgiana next year if it gets out. I knew that your parents had permitted her to run wild, my love but…”

Mr. Darcy was not permitted to finish speaking his ill-judged words for both women, arms about each other had raised their heads in unison and looked at him with such burning anger that he was brought to understand that they had taken grave offence. Never had they looked so alike to him as in that moment.

Like any sensible man, he realised his danger and spoke softly. “I apologise. That was not at all what I wished to discuss. I wish to understand, Catherine, how such events as Mr. Osmond-Price has related to me could possibly have come to pass. I should like to hear an explanation, please.”

With an icy anger that Elizabeth thought quite marvellous, Kitty responded with some disdain. “You have already declared that there cannot  _ be _ an explanation, Mr. Darcy, I cannot, therefore, see any purpose in me wasting my breath by providing you with one.”

To her absolute satisfaction, Mr. Darcy looked very surprised. It was hardly astonishing that he should be so, she had always been so meek and shy about him since coming to stay as Mrs. Darcy’s guest, so very afraid of making some dreadful misstep and being sent home in disgrace. Well. Now she had made a dreadful misstep and she found that she did not at all care what he thought of her, or her upbringing.

Elizabeth, her eyes burning with anger, turned and spoke softly to her sister. “Will you tell me, dearest? I cannot think that anything but the direst provocation could have caused you to act so...and I can presently  _ perfectly _ comprehend a wish to hit a man my love but...oh do tell me, Kitty!”

Nobly Kitty swallowed her injured pride and nodded, “Very well, Lizzy. I will tell  _ you _ . Since you have asked me so  _ reasonably _ and have not assumed that I must be entirely at fault without even having  _ asked _ me.”

Mr. Darcy sent her a level look.

“Two horrid men approached us, entirely uninvited and said the...the  _ vilest _ thing to Mr. Osmond- Price…I do not wish to repeat it but they knocked him down and he had not done a thing to deserve it and oh Lizzy I couldn’t bear it and I tried to stop it. William Goulding showed me how when I was a girl and I have not ever needed the knowledge until today. I know it is not at all ladylike but I would do it again...yes! I should do it a hundred times more if it meant that he should not have to face such horrid injustice alone ever again.”

With such an impassioned speech she retreated once more into Elizabeth's arms and buried her head in her sister's shoulder.

Elizabeth held her close. “I see. Well then. I do not at all hold with violence dearest, but I can quite see that you felt utterly helpless when Mr. Osmond-Price was so shabbily treated. I daresay I  _ might _ feel the same if Fitzwilliam were set upon for something he could not help.”

“Yes, that is it exactly Lizzy and now...I know he will never wish to speak to me again because he will think I am wild and dreadful just like Mr. Darcy does.”

Mr. Darcy grimaced. “I beg your pardon, Catherine. I ought not to have spoken so. It was wrong of me.” His mouth twisted once more when she looked at him in blank astonishment. “Yes, I am capable of apologising when I have erred...as your sister is well aware. Mr. Osmond-Price is to call tomorrow. I shall see what may be done to smooth things over. Elizabeth, I should like your opinion on what is best to be done, if you would share it.”

His irate wife almost smiled at such wisdom but, still annoyed, contented herself with a frigid nod.

“I think it might be best if I speak with Mr. Osmond-Price on the morrow, Fitzwilliam. Fret not, Kitty, I do believe that I am quite capable of arranging this to everybody's satisfaction.”

Mr. Osmond-Price, the next morning, was shown into a very charming yellow sitting room and expected to take tea with the charming Mrs. Darcy.

“Mr. Osmond-Price!” exclaimed she, with great warmth. “How happy I am that you have called. I most particularly wished to thank you for your heroic defence of my sister yesterday afternoon. To be set upon in such a fashion must have been most distressing, I do not think Kitty has ever been so upset.”

He bowed politely to the lady and accepted the tea she offered him.

“I-I a-am m-most sorry t-to hear that Miss B-Bennet has been m-made unhappy,” he said, cautiously. His wounded vanity at having been thrashed in front of the woman he loved was soothed a little by the knowledge that Mrs... Darcy seemed to think him quite the hero.

“Oh you must not mind her so much, Mr. Osmond-Price, Kitty feels loyalty very keenly. I think she would not have been so unhappy if it had been anybody else,” said Mrs. Darcy, delicately. Mr. Osmond-Price was not yet old enough to have learnt to hide his feelings very well. He looked up at her then with such obvious hope that she felt sorry for him. It was well that Kitty would take the poor boy off the marriage market, for anybody might take advantage of such a youth. Fortunately, she had his best interests in mind. “I shall be frank with you Mr. Osmond-Price...my dear sister is not so concerned with the inevitable loss of her reputation as with the loss of your own good opinion.”

“M-Mrs. D-Darcy!” exclaimed the boy, “C-can you b-be serious? I w-was certain that s-she must think me such a w-weak f-fellow f-for h-having been so easily t-taken b-by surprise and knocked d-down. I th-think Miss B-Bennet is...is...is...s-splendid. M-my own M-mama, y-you know, once sh-shot a man for injuring my father. D-do you think she would t-take me, m-madam? Even a-as I am?”

Mrs. Darcy smiled indulgently. “Mr. Osmond-Price, I think a gentleman who can show such a splendid account of himself as Kitty reports, can find sufficient courage to speak to the lady himself. Suffice it to say that if you will rescue my poor sister's reputation I shall myself be quite indebted to you.”

Mr. Osmond-Price grinned, his sleepless, agonised, night immediately forgotten with the possibility of showing heroism. “W-would y-you permit m-me to speak t-to her now, m-madam? I w-would not l-like her to r-remain d-distressed if I c-can help.”

“That is very gentlemanly of you indeed sir. She is in the study with my husband at present, shall you come in with me?”

Mr. Osmond-Price, feeling quite significantly more cheerful, nodded. He liked Mrs. Darcy, he decided, she had a delightful way of making him forget his speech impediment, not unlike her sister.

Kitty was sat in the study pouring over a map of England. She had not been able to locate the particular part of Norfolk in which Mr. Osmond Price lived but had found a river that he had once mention to her and was tracing it down to the sea with a delicate fingertip. Mr. Darcy, who had been at the desk looked up when his wife entered and looked a little less tense when she nodded to him.

“Mr. Osmond-Price has kindly called on us this morning, my dear.”

Mr. Darcy rose and returned the bow with a slight one of his own. “Good morning sir, you are very welcome.”

Miss Bennet looked up from the map when they had entered and was blushing when she stood to curtsey. She had very carefully chosen a dress of pale green that morning, the gentle shade suited her colouring very well and she had draped a light wrap about her to compliment it.

Mr. Osmond- Price thought that there was never a finer girl. He did not mind that she was not a great beauty, he had quite decided that he definitely preferred pretty girls to intimidatingly beautiful ones and he did not at all mind that she was uncomfortable in society...he was not fond of it himself.

“M-Mr. D-Darcy, s-sir. I-I should like t-to have a few m-moments w-with M-Miss B-Bennet, w-with your permission.”

Mr. Darcy, not a cruel man by nature, nodded and guided his wife toward the door. “You may have ten minutes, Mr. Osmond-Price. Catherine, should you wish for us we will be in the music room. Mrs. Darcy has been promising to play something soothing to me.”

They exited and the door clicked shut behind them. Kitty looked decidedly embarrassed.

“I-I am s-sorry that you have been unhappy, M-Miss B-Bennet. Y-your sister s-said that y-you t-thought I might h-have thought l-less of y-you because you h-hit that f-fellow.” Kitty nodded miserably and moved to compassion, feeling more manly than he had ever done before, Thomas Osmond-Price heroically approached nearer to her. He saw the map book turned to the Norfolk Broads and it gave him the courage to smile at her.

“W-well I think y-you are s-splendid.”

Kitty, who had been staring at her hands, looked up in shock.

“You mean you don’t mind ?” said she, unable to comprehend it.

“W-well do y-you m-mind that the c-cad knocked m-me down s-so easily?”

“I mind very much that he hit you at all, Mr. Osmond-Price, I do not think I have ever been so angry. When you leapt up and hit him again I wanted to cheer, I was so pleased. I am sorry, I know that hitting young men is not at all ladylike. My brother read me a very stern lecture on the subject.”

“I w-want t-to marry y-you, M-miss B-Bennet. Y-you are quite the f-finest girl in the c-country, I am sure of it. M-mama t-told me that I should find a w-wife this season and s-she will b-be enchanted that I have.”

Kitty shook her head, “She won’t be if she gets wind of my having hit a man in a public park, sir.” Then, belatedly realising what he had said before that, “oh! truly? I should like to be your wife more than anything, sir but...I d-do not know that I should.”

Mr. Osmond-Price grimaced. “Now d-don't y-you start s-stammering K-Kitty, one of us is q-quite enough. The only r-reason y-you should s-say n-no is if you simply can’t bear to hear my wretched v-voice t-taking an age to say what it is I m-mean. I c-can understand if y-you d-do f-feel that w-way, though I shall b-be sorry f-for it all m-my l-life.”

Kitty shook her head emphatically. “That is not it at all! I am worried I have no dowry and worried that I am not very easy in large crowds and...even though I think you are quite the nicest man I have ever met and should be so very sorry not to see you anymore, I don’t want to serve you an ill turn by saying ‘yes’ when it is not the best thing for you.”

Mr. Osmond-Price, deeply impressed by this romantic self-sacrifice, rolled his eyes. “K-Kitty, don’t b-be n-noble, it is m-my happiness t-too y-you know.”

“Oh.” said, she, clearly not having thought of this before. “I see what you mean. Alright then,  _ yes _ . I should like to marry you, if you please. Will you take me on a rowing boat on the river?”

He grinned, relieved. “Y-yes, I’ll take y-you b-boating, K-Kitty. W-we’ll h-have ourselves a s-splendid outing. Y-you d-don’t m-mind b-being called K-Kitty all your life?” he added, taking her hand in his.

She brought the hand up to her lips and kissed it quickly, “I can’t think of a nicer thing than to forevermore be K-Kitty. I...I was so ready to leave London but a few days ago and now I am an engaged lady I do not at all want to leave you.”

She found herself being led by the hand to the door of the study, the strains of music wafted through the house when they reached the hall, clearly, Mrs. Darcy had changed her mind about playing her husband soothing music and was enthusiastically hammering away at the pianoforte. Kitty did not recognise the composer.

They paused before opening the music room door and Mr. Osmond-Price took her other hand in his.

“W-we shall b-be allowed t-to write t-to each other when y-you are away. I w-will w-wait till then t-to s-say what is in my heart. Y-you should have...y-you deserve t-to be told w-without having to w-wait for me to m-manage to g-get the w-words out.”

Kitty shook her head at this. “I will read whatever it is you write, Mr. Osmond Price but I do think you ought to know…”

Much to his frustration, she was quite unable to tell him just then because the door opened and out stepped Miss Darcy. She jumped a little to see the two of them standing there and laughed a little at their surprise.

“I beg your pardon, I was not at all expecting anyone to be so close to the door. Were you about to enter? Elizabeth is feeling very enthusiastic for rousing music today, Beethoven is her composer of choice.”

“Yes,” said Kitty, “we will go in now.”

A week later Kitty was sat with a small pile of letters beside her in the rose garden at Pemberley. Lizzy had laughed merrily when the footman was obliged to bring in two silver trays worth of correspondence for the four of them at the breakfast table. As soon as had been possible, Kitty had escaped to read her correspondence.

_ The first was from Lydia. _

_ “Mama is in transports of delight over your engagement, Kitty. You will let me come and be a bridesmaid at your wedding, will you not? I have the most charming new shawl that needs a very special first outing and I do think I had better save it for a special occasion.  _

_ I was not able to speak to Mr. Osmond-Price (such a very grand name to be sure!) for Papa said that he needed to go straight back to London and I was in Meryton at the time. Mama says that she thought him very gentlemanly though and has even now gone to Lucas Lodge to crow to Lady Lucas.” _

Kitty opened the next with a smile, Papa was not at all fond of writing, much like Lydia, and so to have received letters from the two of them must be counted a great triumph.

_ “I have given consent to your young man, Kitty, your sister wrote to me assuring me that you were in favour of the match and I am altogether fairly pleased with him- for all that Norfolk is such a great distance away. What joy you have bestowed upon your mother, my dear- she will be forever harping on about her dearest Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Collins, Mrs. Bingley and now her dear Mrs. Osmond-Price. Let us hope Lydia distinguishes herself similarly when she heads off to London next season or she will be quite put in the shade.” _

The last letter, having quickly skimmed over the congratulations from Jane and one from Mariah Lucas, was from Mr. Osmond-Price himself, and Kitty opened it with trembling hands. 

“ _ My dear Kitty, _

_ Does it surprise you-- to see your name written in my hand, doubtless hearing, in your ears, it being read by my own voice and for it not to be a stumbling, slow thing but very smooth?  _

_ I have long relished the freedom that my pen gives me to communicate unhindered, what is in my head. I hope that once we are married that we will not often be apart but I will enjoy the excuse to write so to you, telling you quickly all the things that I will I could say with all the eloquence of an orator. _

_ I think you know already, without being told, that I love you. One day, perhaps after we are wed, I will stutter it in your ear and perhaps you will care for me enough not to laugh, and so I shall repeat it often thereafter.  _

_ I owe Mrs. Darcy a great debt; when I came to call that last morning, I was utterly convinced that you would want nothing more to do with me. I had been told, Kitty, for so long, that every young lady desired a man who could speak well, look well and fight well. I failed on the first, barely scraped by on the second and to my humiliation had fumbled on the last in front of you. _

_ I am sorry for it, not that I think those two men by the river were justified in any way, but rather that it was not the first time others have taken exception to my impediment and nor do I think it will be the last. _

_ Your brother, who gave me a very rare trimming for having endangered you, had the right of it there. If you are in my company much at all, you will encounter such people and their prejudices. It matters not to them that it is only my tongue that is defective- to them I must be a simpleton through and through. I am afraid, my dearest Kitty, that you will often have your sense of justice offended if you are to be my wife. _

_ What Mr. Darcy could not, for some reason, comprehend, is that your defence of me did not trouble me in the least. I thought you, I still think you, the most splendid, capital girl I have ever encountered. I think that many women would have merely gone off into hysterics (like your maid, whom I do hope you will not bring to Norfolk) which is not in the least bit helpful. I will tell you one day of the story of how my Papa met my Mama and she wielded a gun in his defence and he proposed the very next day. Perhaps he will like to tell it though. He has always said how pleasant a thing it is to not feel alone, knowing that there is a woman beside him who will forever be on his side as well as by it.  _

_ I understand it now, I never did before.  _

 

_ yours&c. _

  
  
  



End file.
